?■ : !v-;;:: : :-:i?- 

""■■■'■: ■ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



OOODblHOSlA 







J 1 

° * * * A° 

AT 












jp-n^ 









' o 






















^ 



a- "^ 









L$ 



y 



hq*> 



r . • • • 






^;^ : /\ ; a 






<, 



* o 



^0 



SPEECH OF GEN". HIRAM WALBRIDGE. 



Mb. Chaibman and Gentlemen op the Legislature: 

In a government dependent for its stability on the virtue, integrity, and 
intelligence of its citizens,— where individual political equality, constitutes 
its distinguishing characteristic, it is the incumbent duty of each citizen to 
contribute whatever lays in his power, to promote the general interest and 
advance the common good. More especially is this tlie case, at a period 
like the present, when the nation is passing through one of those terrible 
ordeals, which is to decide for good or evil, its destiny, and to deter- 
mine its relations to foreign powers. But whoever essays to discharge 
this obligation, must remember, the measure of his usefulness, will be 
determined by his influence, in shaping the action of his fellow citizens; 
and it will be well for him to remember, that each citizen enjoys preroga- 
tives equal to his own, and is as capable of deciding, what is best for the 
public interest, as himself. How augmented that responsibility becomes 
whenever a citizen speaks, not to the people directly, but to their represen- 
tatives—those to whom they have confided the administration of their 
government, and the control of their interests. I feel the full force of 
this responsibility as I stand in the august presence of those, to whom the 
free intelligent electors of this great "Empire State," have confided, for the 
time being, the control of their public interests, and the protection of their 

public affairs. 

BENEFIT OF DISCUSSION. 

In the frequent interchange of ideas and in the discussion by their repre- 
sentatives, of the policy best to be pursued by a great people, in order to 
advance their interests, and contribute to their renown, the public mind 
is aroused to action, and the public judgment stimulated to the adoption of 
a policy that either advances or retards the growth of the State, since in 
"•overnment as in all other human enterprises, the forces which encounter 
each other, are seldom stationary, but are either advancing to a higher per- 
fection or deteriorating below the era, in which they are called into exercise. 
Whoever attempts to group together the great events which have marked 
our own political history, since the inauguration of our existing internecine 
strife, must lie struck with the great advance in public sentiment that has 
been made, in reference to many political questions, which constituted the 
elements of discussion among the people previous to the war. I shall not 
now stop to inquire, at what fearful cost this experience has been purchased^ 
but yet, I cannot hide from my vision the spirits of more than 300,000 able ? 
athletic men, who have gone down in the pride of their early manhood, 
sacrifices to the foul spirit of rebellion, which sought to overthrow the 
great edifice of American constitutional freedom. Nor shall I forget the 
vast expenditure of blood and treasure, which has marked this struggle, 
nor the still more ennobling testimony, by which a free people have volun- 
tarily assumed burdens, and placed their chosen sons upon the altar, in 
order to preserve their government, and transmit it unimpaired to those 



6 

who shall come after them, in the same unbroken integrity with which 
they received it from the fathers who laid its foundations. 

STRENGTH OF REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT. 
The friends of free institutions have always claimed the ability of a rep- 
resentative government to successfully resist foreign aggression, since, in 
such a contest, each individual was defending his own fireside, and resisting 
the power that was striking at the government of which he constituted a 
member. Yet it has been a question, whether such a government con- 
tained within itself, elements of strength if assailed by its own citizens, 
whenever faction should be sufficiently powerful to inaugurate rebellion 
and revolt. Our experience lias clearly shown, that republican institu- 
tions are not only able to resist the aggression of foreign nations, but 
they are equally formidable in suppressing treason, whenever any portion 
of their citizens, attempt to overthrow the common government. Great 
as have been our successes on the sea, and on the land, gigantic as have 
been the triumphs that have marked the advance of our victorious armies, 
over the Insurgent States, the voluntary action of the people of the United 
States, on the 8th of November last, in again investing their rulers with the 
elements of power necessary to the continued prosecution of the war, until 
peace is permanently restored, constitutes one of those stupendous events, 
which is to mark not simply the destiny of this republic, but to exercise its 
influence on the destinies of our race. However conflicting the opinions 
of men may have been antecedent to that event, all must admit that the 
result c 1 that occasion, assured the people of the United States, that their 
constitutional government is not to be overthrown, either by rebellion, and 
treason at home, or the active belligerent sympathy of nations abroad. 

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
The contest in the field may be decided by the chances of battle, or the 
varied casualties that give the standard of victory to one or the other 
of the contending parties. But the moral contest which marked the 
presidential campaign of last year, and terminated in the Union victory, 
was a contest that decided the question of free republican government — ■ 
decided that question affirmatively, in favor of consolidating under one 
government in the future, as they had existed in the past, all the States 
that constitute the members of this great and powerful Federal Union. 
This triumphant expression on the part of the people, has already been 
justly interpreted, by the citizens of the Rebellious States, as well as by those 
who reside in the constitutional North ; and equally interpreted by the 
observant statesmen of Europe. 

PUBLIC OPINION ABROAD. 

The sympathy of the industrious masses of the Eastern continent, has, 
since the origin of the strife, been with the United States. Yet we regret 
to say, the sympathies of their aristocratic and governing classes, have 
always favored disaster to the constitutional arms; and they have fondly 
looked forward to some untoward event, by which these American States 
were to be severed, this Union dissolved, this grand republic disintegrated, 
and the melancholy spectacle which greets the vision of the patriot in 



7 

South America, re-inaugurated on the northern section of the "Western 
Hemisphere. 

EVILS OF DISMEMBERMENT. 
They are perfectly conscious, that when once the work of disintegra- 
tion begins there will be no limit, and that the causes that are sufficiently 
t**v powerful to procure a separation between the North and South, would in 
time produce another separation between the East and West, until at last the 
*Sj Federal Union — which in the brief period of seventy years, had become the 
o ] 'ival of the great powers of Europe, whose nationality and strength was the 
i result of centuries of effort, and of time — would be severed and broken ; 
cj and while there might still remain fragmentary republics, or portions of 
\ the once grand Federal Union, that homogeneous political structure, which 
* was asserting its power throughout the globe as the government of the 
United States, would be entirely broken, and broken forever. 

CAUSES OP THE REBELLION. 

We have adverted to the change of public sentiment, that has resulted 
from this internecine strife. But no where has this change been so mani- 
fest, as in its relation to the cause which produced the war, and enabled 
the rebels to protract their resistance during these three long years of 
bloody, desolating, and inhuman strife. It was asserted by eminent states- 
men, antecedent to the war, that there was a necessarily irrepressible conflict 
between the North and South growing out of the institution of slavery. 
But this declaration was violently assailed by a large and respectable 
minority, who insisted that as the government had successfully prospered 
since the adoption of the Constitution until the breaking out of the 
rebellion, by the recognition of slavery, in our political system, it was 
possible to suppress the rebellion and restore the ancient order of things 
as they existed antecedent to the rebellion. Three years of war have con- 
clusively shown, that the constitutional cause prevails, not more by the 
power of arms and its material forces than by the recognition of those moral 
forces on which the permanent prosperity of human institutions can alone 
be based. 

POLITICAL MORALITY. 

However men may differ on mere political questions, no party can per- 
manently control the administration of a great, industrious, and powerful 
people, which do not address itself as well to their moral instincts, as to 
their material interests. If this be true, a party, however formidable in 
numbers, however gigantic in intellect, however historical in the past, which 
seeks to represent the popular sentiment and control the popular judgment 
in this Christian age, must recognize in its maxims and policy, the obser- 
vance of those moral principles by which alone the permanent tranquillity 
and interests of the nation can be secured. As a member of that once 
grand old democratic organization, which for three-quarters of a century 
impressed its policy on the legislation of the country, I regret to say the 
total disregard of these elementary truths, at the last election, placed that 
organization in a minority, from which it will never again lead its adhe- 
rents to triumph and victory until it shall recognize this fundamental 
truth — that morality and justice are indispensable requisites in securing 
the popular approval, and in directing the popular action. 



FEDERAL CONSTITUTION". 
In laying the foundations of the Federal Government, the framers of the 
Constitution wisely provided for the amendment of that instrument, if 
experience should demonstrate the necessity for such action ; and in the 
generation which witnessed its adoption, as the organic law of the Ameri- 
can people, this power was exercised upon three respective occasions. That 
no amendments since then have taken place, indicates the wisdom and 
judgment of the powers then delegated by the people to their government ; 
and also demonstrates how averse the people are to these organic changes, 
except for the most important objects. But a cause which is sufficiently 
powerful to engage thirty millions of people in a contest of arms, which 
has piled up a debt measured onty by thousands of millions, which weighs 
heavily on the present productive industry of the country, and mortgages 
its future, is one of sufficient moment to demand the earnest consideration 
of all classes of the people. These great events have changed the entire 
condition of our public affairs, and it only remains for us to bring the 
organic law in harmony with the interests of the people and the moral 
sentiments of the age. This revolution would have been avoided, if those 
who alleged they had grievances had sought their remedies in a constitu- 
tional manner. For if any real grievances had really been found to exist, 
such is the generosity of the American people, and so earnest their desire to 
do justice to all sections, that on the presentation of facts clearly demonstrat- 
ing an injustice to any portion of the country, the constitutional majority 
requisite to amend the organic law, would have been readily secured. But 
in failing to adopt these peaceful means, and resorting to the bloody ar- 
bitrament ot the sword, the rebellious leaders of the South have produced 
a change in public opinion, which is not to be arrested until the cause 
which produced the war is for ever removed. 

CONFLICTING CIVILIZATIONS. 

Tt is not to be disguised, that not only since the early settlement of the 
country, but certainly since the organization of the Federal Government, 
two conflicting systems of civilization have struggled for its supremacy. 
And during all this period, while the struggle has at times been bitter and 
acrimonious, it was reserved for the presidential election of 1860, to furnish 
a pretext on the part of those who represented the Southern civilization to 
attempt the overthrow of the government itself. As the contest draws to 
a close in behalf of our civilization, — which recognizes the rights of labor, 
of a free and untrammded press, and individual and political equality, we 
mean to mark this triumph of our arms by the employment of peaceful 
agencies in extirpating from the body politic, that refractory element which, 
in times past, has disturbed all our legislation, until at last it became 
sufficiently powerful to strike at the very existence of the American Union. 

THE CONSTITUTIONAL REMEDY. 

Let us enquire how this can be best accomplished, and see if the remedy 
does not exist without violence and without bloodshed, and in strict con- 
formity with the terms of the organic law. 

No greater revolution in the public sentiment of any country has ever 



9 

transpired, than that which has thus far marked the action of the American 
people since the inauguration of the rebellion, in reference to the institution 
of slavery. Not four years ago, Congress, by a unanimous vote, was not 
only willing to guarantee slavery in the States in which it existed, but was 
also willing to amend the Constitution, so that it could never be disturbed. 
To-day no intelligent man believes there will be any other termination to 
the existing rebellion, than the complete extermination of this refractory 
element from our body politic. Already the people of Western Virginia 
Maryland and Missouri, in the most emphatic manner, have expunged the 
odious system from their State organizations ; while the people of Tennes- 
see, in their recent State convention, in the very first article of their new 
constitution, declared— 

"Section 1. Slavery and involuntary servitude, except for the punish- 
ment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are 
hereby for ever abolished and prohibited." 

" Section 2. The legislature shall make no law recognizing the right of 
property in man." 

The President of the United States, in the legitimate exercise of his 
prerogative as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United 
States, has, in aid of the forces of the Federal Government, for the suppres- 
sion of the rebellion, proclaimed universal emancipation in the rebellious 
States. A change in our political system, so fundamental, and which is to 
guarantee freedom to four millions of people hitherto held in bondage — a 
people whom it Avas made a crime to instruct — should be accompanied by 
the most imposing ceremonies which our political system admits. 

BILL BEFORE CONGRESS. 

To secure that object, a bill is pending in Congress, providing for an 
amendment to the constitution, which shall forever prohibit slavery here- 
after in the United States. How the question will be decided at this Ses- 
sion, is acknowledged to be doubtful, so nearly is the House of Represen- 
tatives supposed to be divided; but that its defeat or passage at this 
iuncture is pregnant with tremendous consequences for good or evil, is 
admitted by all. 

I am here, gentlemen of the Committee, in respectful obedience to your 
invitation, to give the reasons which, in my judgment, renders the speedy 
passage of the contemplated measure by the existing Congress desirable 
for the best interests of the country. 

Since the introduction of the measure in the first session of the present 
Congress, the whole people have passed judgment upon it by their action 
in the presidential canvass, in the re-election of President Lincoln, thereby 
justifying his issuance of the great act of emancipation of January 1st, 
18G3, which is to signalize for all coming time, his first administration. 

CONSTITUTIONAL POWER. 

I propose to inquire first, whether the power to make the proposed 
amendment exists: and secondly, to present the reasons which render 
immediate action desirable. 

The tenth article of the Federal Constitution provides that "the powers 
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it. 



10 

to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." 
This expression of the will of the people, through their authorized agents, 
precisely defines their relations to the Union, and to their respective States, 
and its ratification by the States, as Sovereign communities, representing 
the people, was another act of formal surrender and reservation, of political 
power, precisely and accurately defined and expressed. Thus it is that 
the government of the Union, in the execution of the delegated powers, 
became the direct government of the people, personally compulsory upon 
every member of the community; and thus too, it is, that the States res- 
pectively and the people have retained all power, not thus delegated, 
subject only to the limitation implied in section 4, article 4, which clothes 
the Government of the Union with the power, and imposes upon it the 
duty to guarantee to each State a republican form of government, and to 
protect it from invasion from without, and violence within. 

Fortunately, however, the framers of the Constitution did not leave the 
authority to amend that instrument to implication, but in express terms 
they provided for all contingencies in the future by designating the manner 
in which amendments may be made to the fundamental law. That provi- 
sion was so important as to be embraced in a single article, called the 
Fifth and was in these words : 

" The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it neces- 
sary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or on the application 
of the Legislature of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention 
for proposing amendments, which in either case shall be valid, to all 
intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the 
Legislature of three-fourths of the several States, or by convention of three- 
fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be pro- 
posed by the Congress : Provided that no amendment which may be made 
prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any man- 
ner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; 
and that no State without its consent shall be deprived of its equal suffrage 
in the Senate." 

It will thus be seen that the power of amendment is broad, general and 
comprehensive. 

In conformity with this power various amendments have heretofore been 
made. 

AMENDMENTS HERETOFORE MADE. 

Some of these amendments were additions to the Constitution, explana- 
tory of what was regarded obscure, while others were direct and positive 
changes in that instrument ; yet when ratified by three-fourths of the States 
and having been recommended by two-thirds of Congress, these amend- 
ments became as binding as any of the original articles in the Constitution. 
But two solitary exceptions are named which could not be amended — first, 
that article referring to the importation of slaves, was not to be changed 
prior to the year 1808 ; second, no State should be deprived of its equal 
representation in the Senate, without its own consent. These two are the 
only exceptions provided for in that instrument, which cannot be changed; 
and for the purpose of this discussion they are not material. Now, while 
there have been three amendments of the Constitution, adopted during our 
entire political history, various propositions looking to other changes have 



11 

been made, but not having received tlie requisite two-thirds vote in Con- 
gress, thej 7 failed. But the right of amendment has never been questioned, 
until at this era, when some of the friends of human bondage, recognizing 
that in no other way can they resist the overthrow by the American people 
of the system of slavery, they now insist that the power to change the 
Constitution does not exist, or, if it exists, its exercise is fraught with 
incalculable mischief. 

ACTION" OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. 
AVho fails to remember that in the last term of the thirty-seventh Con- 
gress, that body insisted upon the passage of a resolution , having for its 
object an amendment of the Constitution, for ever interdicting any inter- 
ference by Congress with slavery in the States. This resolution passed the 
House of Representatives by a vote of 133 to 65, and in the Senate by a 
vote of 24 to 12, securing the support of the entire South and their allies 
in the North ; those only opposing it who were adverse to giving to the 
Constitution the power of rendering permanent this institution. All who 
insisted upon perpetuating slavery voted affirmatively, and that it should 
be placed like that clause of the Constitution which provides that no State 
shall be deprived of its representation in the Senate without its own con- 
sent, so this resolution provided that Congress should recommend to the 
people an amendment to the Constitution for ever guaranteeing this insti- 
tution of human slavery. This action on the part of those then favoring 
the institution should conclusively control their action now, since they 
thereby conceded the constitutional j)ower, and are for ever debarred by 
that action from alleging that that power does not exist. For if Congress 
has the right to pnqwse an amendment to the Constitution, which shall 
for ever interdict any interference with slavery, does not the same power 
carry with it the right to abolish the institution, if Congress shall see fit 
to so recommend by a two-third vote, and that vote shall be ratified in tliree- 
fourths of the States, acting either through their Legislatures or conven- 
tions of the people, as is provided in the Constitution ? Notwithstanding 
this vote — so recently as the commencement of the rebellion — which secured 
the action of all the Democratic members of the House of Representatives 
at that time, it is painful to witness that this record so recently made is 
now so thoroughly ignored. 

PENDLETON'S RECORD. 
And he who was but recently a candidate for the Vice-Presidency of the 
United States on behalf of the opposition to the Union cause, has addressed 
an argument to the present House of Representatives, contending that the 
power does not exist to amend the Constitution in this particular; yet 
among those recorded as having recognized this power providing for the 
perpetuation of slavery is to be found the name of that honorable member. 
Such stultification in so brief a period only demonstrates how powerful are 
the influences of party, and how, in the heat and vigor of debate, members 
forget their own record, and under the pressure of the party drill ignore 
their previous action. 

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS. 
No government could meet the requirements of the present age, that 



12 

either did not provide for its amendment, or did not actually make 
the amendments that the necessities of the times demanded. The 
English Constitution being nothing more than a record of immemo- 
rial usages, that Constitution is continually subjected to change as society 
makes new developments requiring modifications in existing relations. 
And although the French government recognizes an organized system who 
does not realize that the French people are continually modifying their 
government to meet the accumulating demands of the age. What better 
illustration how a great government shapes its policy in accordance 
with the interests of the generatian in which it acts, than the recent eman- 
cipation, by the Czar of Russia, of the serfs of his extended empire. In 
whatever quarter of the world our attention is directed, governments are 
vieing with each other to bring- their requirements in harmony with the 
interests of the people, and the civilization of the age. It is only in the 
Congress of the United States that an attempt is made to prevent the 
amendment of our organic law, necessary to bring the government in har- 
mony with the moral sentiments of the people and their material interests. 
That government is most perfect which responds to the voice of its 
citizens as they demand improvements in their organic law, making their 
system more perfect as civilization advances, and as the people are more 
thoroughly qualified for free institutions. Who will say that the govern- 
ment which was adequate at the commencement of this century, would be 
adequate at the present time, in view of the rapid advance that has been 
made in all the great departments of human life' What have we not 
vitnessed in this brief period ? The elevation of the press to a command- 
ing power and eminence in the state not recognized when the government 
was called into existence— the single development of this power in its 
relation to society would justify changes in the organic law— the applica- 
tion of steam to locomotion— the multiplication of the hands of Human 
labor by the same instrumentality, and the introduction of electricity, throw- 
ing agirdle around the earth in less than forty minutes. While a people ad- 
vance themselves in all the great departments of human life, and strength, 
and power, there should also be improvements in their government com- 
mensurate with their own advancement. Government is not a simple 
creation, it is the result of growth; ami that government is best which 
adapts itself most kindly to the requirements of its own citizens. 

What are the facts in reference to this question of slavery, and the de- 
mands now made upon the American people for its extirpation from our 
body politic? All the enlightened nations of Europe have proscribed it. 
And if the Congress of the United States shall fail to banish it from our 
political system, how long a period will transpire before those so-called 
Confederate states now resisting the Constitutional government, will fail to 
be recognized by those great powers of Europe, if the rebels offer slaver f 
as the price of their recognition ? 

LOUIS NAPOLEON. 
The sagacious Emperor of the French thoroughly comprehends the deep- 
seated hostility of the French people to the institution of slavery. This is 
abundantly evinced by the action of France in the abolition of the institu- 
tion, in all her colonies, at an early date. With this fact before us, who 



13 

believes that, when we shall have foiled to pass this constitutional amend- 
ment for ever interdicting slavery, if the rebel President Davis should 
tender the abolition of slavery as the price of recognition, the French Em- 
peror would hesitate to ratify so profitable an arrangement, if he thereby 
could also secure valuable commercial treaties with the South, giving the 
French people the supremacy of the article of cotton, through which these 
Southern leaders hoped at the commencement of the war to secure the favor- 
able intervention of foreign governments. 

SOUTHERN RECOGNITION. 

In one of the ablest arguments ever submitted to the American people. 
the Hon. Robt. .1. Walker, (under date of September 30, 1864, from Lon- 
dor^) stated he believed that bonis Napoleon, had at one time determined 
to recognize the South, lie adds with proper caution that, although such 
Was his conviction, he did not know the tact. But in a recent conversation 
with that distinguished statesman, he informed me that he had positive 
and authentic information that, in the event of Gen. McClellan's election, 
in our last presidential canvass, the French Emperor had determined not 
only to recognize the independence of the South, but that a most able pa- 
per, giving his reasons for such action, had been prepared under his direc- 
tion, addressed to all the leading governments in Europe, soliciting their 
cooperation in that event. 

ALEXANDER OF RUSSIA. 

The only real rival of Napoleon in Europe is Alexander II, Czar of 
Russia. That monarch is now at tin- head of more than one hundred mil- 
lions of people, and is introducing throughout all his vast dominions all the 
improvements of modern times. Since his elevation to the throne, he has 
introduced a system of general education into Russia, bo as to elevate and 
enlighten his people and vastly extend the, area and power of civili- 
zation. But his great act is the emancipation, of thirty millions of Rus- 
sian slaves, which jhas been carried into actual and successful operation by 
an imperial ukase, issued against the powerful opposition of the nobility, 
and most of the wealthy classes, of Russia to whom these Blaves belonged 
as serfs of the soil, which they cultivated by unrequited labor. This great 
Emancipation edict — but still more its complete success, has given to the 
Czar an unbounded influence and popularity in Russia, while it has vastly 
increased the prestige and power of his name in Europe and throughout 
the world. 

If Louis Napoleon, his great rival, recognizing the independence of the 
South, can induce them to abolish slavery, he too will have greatly aug- 
mented his power, influence, and popularity in France, Europe, Mexico, 
and Spanish America. If then we now reject the proposed amendment, 
abolishing slavery throughout the Union, is there not great fear that Louis 
Napoleon will avail himself of the occasion to induce the South to abol- 
ish slavery, as a condition of the recognition of their independence by 
France ? 

Slavery has become so demoralized in the South, as to have lost all pe- 
cuniary value there. And it is evident from the official doctunents of Jef- 
ferson Davis, from the language of his organs, the debates and proceedings 
in the Confederate Congress, and the promulgated opinion of Gen. Lee, 



14 

that the insurgent authorities, civil and military, are willing to abolish 
what is left of slavery in the South, as a condition of the recognition of 
their independence by the French Emperor. That recognition they know 
means a commercial treaty between France and the South, especially for 
the supply of cotton, it means a breach of our blockade by the French 
navy, and can end only in war, in aid of the South, by France, against the 
United States; to be followed probably in that event by England. Now 
we can avoid all these hazards by the immediate adoption of the proposed 
amendment abolishing slavery throughout the country. Then there will 
be nothing left on which the insurgent authority can act ; then our cause 
will be immensely strengthened in Europe ; and slavery, having been al- 
ready abolished by the amendment of our fundamental law, Louis Na- 
poleon, will have no power to array France or any other country against us 
on that question. 

ENGLAND'S POLICY. 
If the recognition of the independence of the South by France upon 
their doing what we had refused to do, is effected, is there not equal danger 
that England would join France in that act of recognition ? England in 
that event would have a far greater trade with the South than France, and 
has a much deeper interest in the cotton question, consuming nearly ten 
times as many pounds of the great staple. It is the slavery question alone, 
and the deep feeling of the popular masses on that subject, that has pre- 
vented England from uniting with France long since ia recognizing the inde- 
pendence of the South. But when our position shall be reversed on this 
subje t, when we shall have refused to abolish slavery, by rejecting the 
proposed amendment, and the insurgent authorities, stimulated by our 
folly, shall immediately proceed to expunge the institution from their Con- 
federacy and thus vastly increase their armies, is there not every reason to 
believe that England would join France in the act of recognition? The 
Confederates, and their allies in France and England, would then unfurl 
the Anti-slavery banner, which we should have discarded, and appeal with 
irresistible force to the masses in their favor. And what of Russia, in such 
an event ? One of the chief reasons of our support by the Russian Czar 
has been the supposed coincidence between him and ourselves, as regards 
the abolition of slavery. But if we separate from him, on this question, 
and the South adopt his policy, by the abolition of slavery, is there not 
every reason to believe that he too, thus rebuked by us and sustained by the 
South, would unite with France and England in the recognition ? And what 
of Holland, Denmark, and Sweden, which have all abolished slavery in all 
their colonies ? What of Italy, from the Alps and the Appenines, to Naples 
and Sicily, whose soil for many centuries has never been polluted by the 
foot of a slave? What of Rome and the Pope, still a mighty power, 
in Europe and the world ? Look at the corresjjondence between His Holi- 
ness and Jefferson Davis — look at the numerous papal bulls against slavery, 
and then ask yourselves whether, in the event of our refusal to abolish the 
institution, and its consequent abolition by the South, will not and cannot 
the Pope arouse against us the whole Catholic population of Europe and 
the world ? And what of Germany, so hostile now, and for many centuries, 
to slavery — that never held a slave — that never had a slave-holder, or en- 
gaged in the infamous African slave-trade — what will Germany, now our 



15 

enthusiastic friend, say on the subject ? Why, from the Baltic and German 
ocean to the Adriatic, from the Elbe and the Rhine to the Danube, Ger- 
many will condemn our action, if she does not join our enemy. And what 
of Switzerland, which for four centuries has successfully maintained the 
contest for republican freedom against surrounding despotisms— What will 
she say on such a question ? Will she not feel as if we had written the 
epitaph of Republics throughout the world ; while even the Alps 
echo the mournful requiem? And shall we not indeed have stricken 
down the champions of freedom throughout Europe and re-inaugurated 
the reign of despotic power ? 

EXTRA SESSION OP CONGRESS. 
Indeed, such vast importance, do I attach to immediate action on this sub- 
ject, that if the amendment unfortunately should fail now, I trust that Presi- 
dent Lincoln will immediately issue his proclamation, convening the new 
Congress, and give this as the principal motive for such action. Let that 
proclamation go to Europe, with the same steamer that takes the news of the 
rejection of the amendment, and possibly it may save us from European 
intervention. But why incur such a fearful hazard, when it can all be avoided 
by immediate favorable action on the question ? These are revolutionary times, 
when delays are always dangerous. If we postpone action until another session, 
the returning steamer may bring us the fatal news, — it is too late I How often 
before have these ominous words sounded in the streets of Paris, and how soon 
again may the imperial mandate fulminate against us another coup d etat ? 

CHANGE OP ISSUE. 

To defend and perpetuate the institution of slavery, were the alleged reasons 
of the rebellious leaders of the South for their attempt to overthrow the gov- 
ernment at the origin of the war. What is their present proposed action ? 
Already the President of the Confederacy, its ablest commander, and all its 
leading statesmen, are advocating the abolition of the institution of slavery, in 
order to secure foreign recognition, and to strengthen their armies with the 
emancipated slaves. It is thus seen, the rebels have changed their position 
since the origin of the rebellion. First, insisting that their action was indis- 
pensable in order to protect slavery ; and second, now urging that slavery 
be immediately abolished, if thereby they can secure the division of these 
American States, and the consequent dismemberment of the American Union. 
What are the facts ? Here are four millions of slaves — a class hitherto recog- 
nized under the Constitution, as persons in the congressional representation, 
and consequently in the legislation of the country, but recognized as property, 
when in the hands and under the tyranny of their masters. The rebel leaders 
announce their willingness to give them their freedom, in order to secure their 
aid in separating the Union. Shall the government of the United States, fail 
to avail itself of its privilege of giving them their liberty and incorporate them 
into the armies, now sustaining the constitutional cause, in favor of the unity 
of the republic ? It is by no means my purpose, to inquire how much we lost, 
during the first two years of our struggle, when we failed to avail ourselves, 
of the services of the slaves of the South, in the idle and vain endeavor to 
appease and mitigate the resentment of the slaveholders, then actively in arms 
against the government of the United States. 

Time is indispensable in all great human enterprises. And it was early evi- 



16 

dent, the public mind required time to overcome the prejudices, which necessa- 
rily resulted from the abject degradation to which the African race had been 
subjected, through the institution of slavery, even in the Republican government 
of the United States. The wise policy of the President has changed our action ; 
and two hundred thousand persons formerly held as slaves now wear the livery 
of the republic and rally beneath its starry banner. Thus far, wherever an oj)- 
portunity has been presented they have illustrated the highest physical en- 
durance, the most perfect subordination, and the most heroic courage. Shall 
this experience be lost upon ourselves ? Shall the millions of slaves in the 
South become champions of freedom and aid in sustaining the constitutional 
cause, or shall the rebel authorities re-invigorate their depleted legions and 
indefinitely protract the rebellion by this new accession of strength, if they 
are permitted to enrol them into their armies ? That question will be decided 
by the failure or passage of the contemplated amendment by the present Con- 
gress. What number of slaves under the promise of emancipation are now in 
the rebel ranks is to us unknown. But if from this class, the rebel authorities 
are to replenish their exhausted legions, how long will they be enabled to 
prosecute this terrible internecine Avar ? All then, who are in favor of per- 
petuating the strife and desirous of seeing this slaughter protracted— all 
who are willing to see the youth of the republic in their early manhood, 
laid on the altar of this fratricidal conflict, will resist the measure pend- 
ing in the Ilouse of Representatives, for an amendment to the organic law, 
which removes for ever from the body politic this refractory element of 
our existing civilization. 

FOUNDERS OF THE REPUBLIC. 

By the eradication of slavery from the body politic, we shall restore the gov 
ernment to the policy on which its foundations were laid, and its prosperity based. 

The framers of the government found it recognized in the Colonies 
having existed since the first settlement of the country ; but they regarded it 
a great social, moral and political evil, and confidently expected its disappear- 
ance from our system. In the original draft of the Declaration of Independence 
by Mr. Jefferson, the most grievous of all the charges alleged against the 
British King, was — ■ 

"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most 
sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never, 
offended him ; captivating and carrying them iuto slavery in another hemis- 
phere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This 
piratical warfare, the 02)probrium of Infidel powers, is the warfare of the Chris- 
tian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men 
should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative, for suppressing 
every legislative attempt to prohibit, or to restrain, this execrable commerce. 
And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, 
he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to pur- 
chase that liberty of which he has deprived them by murdering the people on 
whom he also obtruded them, thus paying off former crimes committed against 
the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against 
the lives of another." 

These were the real opinions of Mr. Jefferson, and were only stricken out by 
the Continental Congress before signature, to appease South Carolina and 



17 

Georgia, the former of whom was still willing to remain a dependency of Great 
Britain. 

Slavery and rebellion are identical ; sustain the former and you protract the 
latter — extirpate the former and the rebellion totters to its fall. There have 
been other evils in our political system, but they have gradually disappeared 
before our civilization and the interests of the people. Slavery involved us 
in war with Mexico, a:id it has frequently threatened to involve us in war 
with foreign governments. 

We delight in honoring the men of the revolutionary period. We do but 
simple justice when we allege that the framers of the Constitution were not 
surpassed by any other body known to history. But how impossible for 
human vision to anticipate human action, in the future, is illustrated by what 
they anticipated in reference to slavery, and what has actually transpired. The 
Statesmen of that day placed themselves on record, as believing that the insti- 
tution of slavery would quietly disappear from the body politic. In the Con- 
stitution they provided that after the year 1808, the importation of slaves 
should be forever prohibited. This action conclusively proves what were their 
anticipations. 

THE COTTON" GIN. 

And but for the introduction of the Cotton Gin— that emanation of genius 
from a Northern mechanic — slavery in the South would have disappeared un- 
der the law of self-interest, as it had previously done in the North. By the 
simple agency of this machine, with the rude and unskilled labor of slaves, 
cotton became an article of export, sufficiently powerful to regulate the com- 
mercial exchanges between the United States and the great marts of Europe; 
and then this institution came to be a controlling element in our national 
legislation. 

THE COALITION. 

But even the benefits secured through the labor of the slave and the genius, 
of the Northern mechanic, would have been incomplete for any harm, if those 
landed proprietors of the South, owning their dependent slaves, had not been 
able to form a coalition with the laboring masses of the North, forming a 
political combination, which, for three-fourths of our political existence, has 
controlled our entire political legislation. Viewing this coalition with the 
lights before us, we are at a loss to discover what sympathy or interests existed 
between the large landed proprietor of the South, whose means of subsistence 
are wrung from the toil and sweat of his dependent slaves, and that humble, 
energetic, industrious laborer of the North, the support of whose family is con- 
tingent on his individual exertions. Coalitions are usually founded on kindred 
interests and the supposed benefits that are to result from the combination. 
But what possible advantages could come to the Northern laborer, in forming 
a coalition which placed him on a par with slavery, it is impossible for reason 
to conceive. But, unreasonable as was that coalition, it is by no means as 
monstrous as the anomaly, that, in this Christian age, in view of our present 
bitter experience, in view of the hundreds of thousands of fresh and unsodded 
graves, which this institution has so recently made, in view of the ravages 
which the war has occasioned, that there is still in the Congress of the United 
States, a single man sufficiently bold and audacious, to oppose, in any manner, 
the earliest and most thorough eradication of this pernicious system of slavery 
from our body politic. 



18 



PARTY CLAIMS. 

Motive invariably precedes action. But what motive could exist for the 
perpetuation of a system that has already produced such unnumbered evils ? I 
know the power and tyranny of party, — I recognize its imperious demands ; I 
know full well how men hesitate to break its shackles, how difficult to sever 
associations. But how infatuated must that man be who, amid the blazing 
light of this century and its advancing civilization, desires to perpetuate an 
institution which has brought upon the country the terrible calamities through 
which we are now passing. 

SEPARATE STATE ACTION". 

It is vehemently urged by many who are willing to secure the proposed 
result, that it can best be effected by independent State action ; and they point, 
in support of this opinion, to the proceedings of the conventions in the border 
States, that have recently expunged slavery from their Constitutions. So fun- 
damental an act, cumpletely changing the entire social, political and industrial 
status, of four millions of slaves, demans and expression from the whole people. 
This is particularly desirable in reference to public opinion in Europe. The gov- 
ernments and people in Europe only know the Government and people of the 
United States ; they understand our States are mree local divisions. Whenever 
a citizen goes abroad, and is obliged to seek protection, he never asks it in behalf 
of a State— one of the integral portions of the Union, — but because of his rela- 
tions to the Federal Union. Until this accursed rebellion, it was enough to secure 
protection and hospitality in every quarter of the globe, to aver you were a 
citizen of the Republic of the United States. 

STATE RIGHTS. 

The rebellion itself may be traced to the undue importance heretofore 
awarded the powers and rights of the States in the Federal Union as incul- 
cated, by the pernicious doctrines of Mr. Calhoun for the last two genera- 
tions, and through which he weakened the affection of his adherents for 
the general government. Justly tracing an intimate relation between these 
evil counsels and slavery, as the cause of the war, the recent constitutional 
convention in Missouri, while for ever abolishing the latter from their 
political system, declared in their Bill of Rights — 

" That all political power is vested in and derived from the people, is 
founded upon their will only, and instituted for the good of the whole ; 
that this State shall ever remain a member of the American Union, and 
that all attempts, from whatever source, upon whatever pretext, to dis- 
solve said nation, ought to be resisted with the whole powers of the State ; 
that every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution 
and Government of the United Stales, and no law or ordinance of this State 
in contravention thereof can have any binding force.' 1 '' 

This enlightened action of the people of Missouri, who have felt the 
evils of the existing strife as severely as any other section, will doubt- 
less be succeeded by similar action on the part of all the States, who have 
suffered by the rebellion, as they again seek the protection of the govern- 
ment of the United States. They intend to profit by their past experi- 
ence; and they fully realize that the evils, whatever they may be, of 



19 

strengthening the Federal government, will be infinitely less, than those 
by which we are suffering from the pernicious notions hitherto prevalent of 
State sovereignty. No State should be vested with any power which gives 
colour of legality to acts of secession. Let us protect the States in all their 
delegated powers, make them sovereign within their orbit, but confine 
them to that orbit, and vest the residuum of power in the Government of 
the Federal Union, or reserve it to the people. A mere reversal of the rela- 
tions, established by Article 10 of the existing Federal Constitution, would 
secure this result. This accomplished, with improved provisions in the 
Constitution, extending the law of treason, it is difficult to see when the 
institution of slavery shall cease to exist, from what source in the present, 
or any probable condition of our civilization, any real danger can come to 
threaten our peace or security. 

ABROGATION" OP RECIPROCITY TREATY. 

I do not forget what has been the persistent, ungenerous, and unfriendly 
course of the two great western powers of England and France towards us 
since the breaking out of the rebellion ; a course rendered more flagrant by 
Great Britain in view of the strict impartiality which we have always 
observed in our relations with that country, even when the storm of revolu- 
tion has shaken her colonial dependencies on our frontier. Strict neutrality, 
and an aversion to entangling alliances with foreign states, has been a car- 
dinal maxim with the American people ever since the origin of the govern- 
ment. This policy, early inaugurated by Washington, is the settled pur- 
pose of the American people. The abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty 
with Great Britain, in reference to the Canadas, directly concerns the peo- 
ple of the State of New York, whose northern boundary for so great an 
extent, joins Canada, or looks out upon the waters of Lakes Erie and 
Ontario with the British possessions immediately opposite ; and while 
British Statesmen are providing for a large additional force upon the lakes, 
it will be the dictate of a wise and provident legislation, to place there a 
force amply sufficient to see that no detriment comes to the Republic from 
that quarter. Facilities for passing our gunboats from Lake Ontario to 
Lake Erie, and from Lake .Michigan to the Mississippi, are urgently 
demanded by the necessities of our position, while along the whole line of 
our Atlantic seacoast, from Savannah to Boston, the interior line of water 
communication, should be en larged so as to be capable of passing our 
entire naval fleet, and merchant marine, free from the storms of the coast, 
and removed from an invading fleet, in the contingency of foreign war. 
This great result can be readily obtained by enlarging the locks of three 
short canals, of an aggregate length of seventy -eight and one half miles. 

FAILURE OP THE REBEL CONFEDERACY. 

The originators of the rebellion attempted to withdraw their respective 
States from the jurisdiction of the Federal Constitution, alleging the 
rights of their States were continually assailed under the Federal Govern- 
ment. They left the Federal Union to secure greater privileges for their 
States under the rebel Confederacy. What is the result ? Where are the 
immunities that were to be secured to the revolted States? I speak not 
now of their relations to the United States, but of their relatious to their 



20 

own so-called Confederate government. At this very moment, on the face of 
the entire globe, is there a more grinding, odious, military despotism than 
that which controls the Southern Confederacy. The rights of the State, the 
liberties of the citizen, all swallowed up in the central authority at Rich- 
mond, and that authority bartering away the very institution, to protect 
which, these States attempted to sever their allegiance from the Federal 
Government. Where are the Statesmen who inaugurated the rebellion, 
and who for many years previous had given direction to Southern sentiment ? 
All ignored ; and the Confederate Congress are even now deliberating on 
the policy of deposing the existing Presidential Rebel Chief, and giving 
absolute military dictation to their ablest military commander. Fearing 
that as our victorious armies advance, and the southern people again come 
to recognise the old flag under which they had so prospered in the past, 
it may prompt them to rally again beneath its folds; and that their State 
authorities may aid this result, a Resolution has passed the rebel con- 
gress, declaring it treason for any separate State to attempt a negotiation for 
peace, and the Rebel President has given it his earnest support. What a 
melancholy condition for a people who so recently enjoyed all the blessings 
of a free representative government, guaranteed by the Federal Con- 
stitution. 

OUR OWN" PROSPECTS. 

At the origin of the rebellion very many men feared its suppression 
would cost us our national life, that a separation between the States was 
inevitable, that the Union must be dissevered, or, if we should escape this 
calamity, that the liberties of the people would be swallowed up in the 
ambition of some triumphant military dictator. Every day's experience 
only the more clearly demonstrates the fallacy of such apprehension. For 
the probability of any division of these States was never more remote than 
at this period, and is daily diminishing as our victorious armies under 
Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas and Terry, and our gallant navy, under 
Farragut, Porter and Dupont, continue to place our standards over the 
strongholds of the rebels, and where they supposed their strength was 
invincible. 

Though the rebellion is not yet terminated, enough has already trans- 
pired to assure us that a single nation only, is to exercise jurisdiction over 
all the territory formerly embraced within the limits of the United States, 
and that here a homogeneous people — under republican institutions, re- 
cognizing universal freedom and individual political equality — will con- 
tinue to furnish an asylum to the oppressed for the whole earth, and that 
here under one nationality the civilization of our race will secure its highest 
development. 



VI f 



... °* ' ^ ... % ""* A° 















^ . t ' . . "^ 



::m:. v/ : ;Sfe,V/ 




^0^ 


















* 4 



o V 



&> - ^ & 










«1» A> , . *1a 




/\ -I 









•* 



V v^ 






3> 









«y 



► ft Cs^« , 






is 



4? 



** 

O, 







